BIRCH. 205 



the grass, and laving the bank whereon I grow : my long 

 flexuous roots derive refreshment from its waters, and 

 hence I am unaffected by the dryness of my sterile growing- 

 place. 



Time was when I grew in the depth of a wild forest that 

 overshadowed the greater part of Gloucestershire ; but a 

 clearing was made at length, and I remained an isolated 

 tree, right and left of which extended a denuded tract, 

 while the remnant of the forest to which I had pertained 

 served as a back- screen to the settlement. That clearing 

 was the work of one Eoger de Lacie, who gave to the few 

 acres which he cultivated the name of Wicke, signifying a 

 dairy farm. .For this purpose it was well adapted, being 

 screened from the cold east wind by a rising hill on which 

 the Romans had encamped. It was also well watered by 

 a clear , stream, that abounded with fish, and which flowed 

 on through the deep forest, till, being swelled by several 

 tributary rills, it entered the Severn at the termination of 

 the vale country. About fifty houses were built on the 



